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I'm in Texas. This is a big problem in this region of the USA. Texas has allowed open season all year round for hunting feral pigs/hogs. I'm curious what thi

I'm in Texas. This is a big problem in this region of the USA. Texas has allowed open season all year round for hunting feral pigs/hogs. I'm curious what this has done to the population per the article. More info from Texas gov https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/ https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/

protomyth 6y ago
I cannot find the source, but I heard Texas is only taking out 70% of the needed hogs to hold the population even, much less reduce it.
- tristor 6y ago
  This is partly due to urbanization and city ordinance. This is an issue near and dear to me here in Texas. Feral hogs are, like many other wild animals, adapting to the ecosystem created by humans. One downside though is that you cannot hunt/kill them in city limits. It's very commonplace for feral hogs to bed down in suburbs and populate there, so no matter how many people go on hog "hunts" from helicopters with rifles, it won't change the fact that in that neighborhood park you have hogs rutting in a no-kill zone. There's no nice, fully socially acceptable answer, because even in Texas the majority of city folks are not comfortable with the reality of killing another living creature, and they certainly aren't comfortable with people using firearms inside the city. Unlike deer issues, you can't do crossbow hunts for feral hogs because they're dangerous and travel in packs. You need firearms with high magazine capacities to safely do feral hog abatement hunts. In addition to all of the above, Texas is uniquely difficult to resolve this situation for because of the size of the state. Texas is big, and feral hogs range across the entire state. In many ways, there's simply not enough people who are interested and able to spend their free time during the week shooting hogs. Because of population centralization in cities, people do it as a weekend trip and usually with a company that charges them to handle the logistics, because it's also not okay to just walk on random land here as every part of the state is private property unless otherwise designated. Managing the feral hog problem here costs the state billions of dollars and is like trying to hold back the floodwaters by putting your finger in a collapsing dam.
  - chmod600 6y ago
    Are there any natural predators? Wolves or something?
    - Consultant32452 6y ago
      https://feralhogs.extension.org/natural-predators-of-feral-hogs/ https://feralhogs.extension.org/natural-predators-of-feral-h...
      - darkwizard42 6y ago
        Jeez, reading this list it seems the biggest hope is to have something that predates on the piglets or young. There is almost no way to stop them once they reach full size. Specifically the section about how these things at full grown size can even kill a black bear!!!
        tristor 6y ago
        > There is almost no way to stop them once they reach full size. There is only one known way to stop a full-grown feral hog, and that's with a (big) gun. Unfortunately. So until we have a better answer, our best bet is to kill them as rapidly as possible. Even with all the lore and furor around it in Texas, hog breeding is outgrowing active efforts to exterminate them and the population increases every year and is trending upwards. They're also very aggressive, so enjoy that if you encounter feral hogs. I carry a large bore revolver with me when I go hiking and everyone assumes it's for bears... it's actually for feral hogs.
        thehappypm 6y ago
        Poison? It seems easy enough to set up a trap for an animal that will literally eat anything.
        tristor 6y ago
yaur 6y ago
From my research public land pigs in TX have been pretty much hunted out of existence, so if you want to hunt them you pretty much have to pay someone for the privilege of hunting their land. This leads me to believe that the problem is either less severe than its made out to be and/or that it is being propped up by people who are profiting by its continued existence.
- cwcurrie 6y ago
  Would you mind sharing a source for your research? Anecdotally, there are plenty of pigs running around the national forests in East Texas, and no shortage of land owners who are happy to have hunters and hog-doggers volunteer to clear them out. Outside of deer season, anyway.
- philwelch 6y ago
  TX barely has any public land.

protomyth 6y ago

I cannot find the source, but I heard Texas is only taking out 70% of the needed hogs to hold the population even, much less reduce it.

tristor 6y ago
This is partly due to urbanization and city ordinance. This is an issue near and dear to me here in Texas. Feral hogs are, like many other wild animals, adapting to the ecosystem created by humans. One downside though is that you cannot hunt/kill them in city limits. It's very commonplace for feral hogs to bed down in suburbs and populate there, so no matter how many people go on hog "hunts" from helicopters with rifles, it won't change the fact that in that neighborhood park you have hogs rutting in a no-kill zone. There's no nice, fully socially acceptable answer, because even in Texas the majority of city folks are not comfortable with the reality of killing another living creature, and they certainly aren't comfortable with people using firearms inside the city. Unlike deer issues, you can't do crossbow hunts for feral hogs because they're dangerous and travel in packs. You need firearms with high magazine capacities to safely do feral hog abatement hunts. In addition to all of the above, Texas is uniquely difficult to resolve this situation for because of the size of the state. Texas is big, and feral hogs range across the entire state. In many ways, there's simply not enough people who are interested and able to spend their free time during the week shooting hogs. Because of population centralization in cities, people do it as a weekend trip and usually with a company that charges them to handle the logistics, because it's also not okay to just walk on random land here as every part of the state is private property unless otherwise designated. Managing the feral hog problem here costs the state billions of dollars and is like trying to hold back the floodwaters by putting your finger in a collapsing dam.
- chmod600 6y ago
  Are there any natural predators? Wolves or something?
  - Consultant32452 6y ago
    https://feralhogs.extension.org/natural-predators-of-feral-hogs/ https://feralhogs.extension.org/natural-predators-of-feral-h...
    - darkwizard42 6y ago
      Jeez, reading this list it seems the biggest hope is to have something that predates on the piglets or young. There is almost no way to stop them once they reach full size. Specifically the section about how these things at full grown size can even kill a black bear!!!
      - tristor 6y ago
        > There is almost no way to stop them once they reach full size. There is only one known way to stop a full-grown feral hog, and that's with a (big) gun. Unfortunately. So until we have a better answer, our best bet is to kill them as rapidly as possible. Even with all the lore and furor around it in Texas, hog breeding is outgrowing active efforts to exterminate them and the population increases every year and is trending upwards. They're also very aggressive, so enjoy that if you encounter feral hogs. I carry a large bore revolver with me when I go hiking and everyone assumes it's for bears... it's actually for feral hogs.
        thehappypm 6y ago
        Poison? It seems easy enough to set up a trap for an animal that will literally eat anything.
        tristor 6y ago

yaur 6y ago

From my research public land pigs in TX have been pretty much hunted out of existence, so if you want to hunt them you pretty much have to pay someone for the privilege of hunting their land. This leads me to believe that the problem is either less severe than its made out to be and/or that it is being propped up by people who are profiting by its continued existence.

cwcurrie 6y ago
Would you mind sharing a source for your research? Anecdotally, there are plenty of pigs running around the national forests in East Texas, and no shortage of land owners who are happy to have hunters and hog-doggers volunteer to clear them out. Outside of deer season, anyway.
philwelch 6y ago
TX barely has any public land.